Important Notation Conventions used in Turkish Learning Materials

As soon as you open a Turkish textbook, you will see dashes '-', capital 'I' and 'A' used in various situations- but most textbooks don't explain what these symbols stand for in the context of learning Turkish. Here is your key to deciphering these symbols:

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• A capital ‘l’ in a suffix means that the suffix follows the 4-way vowel harmony. For example, +sIz (a suffix that means without, or '-less', as in sütsüz (milk-less, without milk, non-milky) can be siz, sız, suz, süz depending on the last vowel of the word it attaches.

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• A capital ‘A’ in a suffix indicates that the suffix follows the 2-way vowel harmony. For example, +lAr (the plural suffix) can be lar or ler depending on the last vowel of the word it attaches (as in kediler or çocüklar).

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• A capital ‘D’ in a suffix means that the suffix follows consonant harmony. This only happens if the word it attaches to end in a consonant. The suffix consonant will be either ‘d’ or ‘t’ depending on the word-final consonant. If it the last letter is p, ç, t, k, f, s, or ç, (the conventional mnemonic that is taught in Turkey to remember this is ‘Fıstıkçı Şahap’, Şahap the pistachio seller), then the suffix will start with ‘t’, if not, then ‘d’. for example the dative suffix '-DA' (indicating that something is located at or on the noun) is used in the following was with the words kitap, araba, and gitar: kitapta, arabada, gitarda.

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• A capital ‘C’ in a suffix also indicates consonant harmony. This only happens if the word it attaches to end in a consonant. The suffix consonant will be either ‘c’ or ‘ç’ depending on the word-final consonant. If it is ‘p,ç,t,k,f,s,ç’ (mnemonic ‘Fıstıkçı Şahap’, Şahap the pistachio seller), then suffix will start with ‘ç’, if not, then ‘c’, for example, with the suffix '-CI' which indicates a profession or role: kitapçı (meaning book seller), arabacı (car maker), gitarcı (guitar player)